I am alive and well..Life is just crazy!!!!!

Hello my fellow bloggers and sisters! I am so sorry I have been missing in action for over a month now! Time has certainly gotten away and the holidays are upon us and I have just lost track of time! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and you were able to find some great unbelievable deals on Black Friday.

I am in the midst of moving (swore I would never move during the holiday season) but you do what needs to be done especially in the housing market here in California. Our house sold quickly and they wanted a short escrow like 7 days!!!!! Yikes! Luckily for us we were blessed to find a beautiful new place to live in that is a gated community for 55+ and all the amenities you could ever imagine to be spoiled by. We had to sell all our massive furniture as it would not fit in the new home, but that is okay as it has been time for a change in style for quite a while, just couldn't justify buying new until now. (wink). So instead of having myself enthralled in making ornaments, cards and all the other items that go with this merry season, I am packing boxes and moving. The movers will be here tomorrow to move us and thus I will begin the task of unpacking, putting things away and then hopefully get my craft room done but it will be the last thing to do as there is so much other stuff that needs to be done first which means it probably won't be until the end of the year or the new year before you see any new creations. I hope to still have your faithful following and to all my blog sisters, I promise to comment on your creations (I know I said that before and didn't get around too it) but definitely will I promise!!!!!!. Will get pictures of our new place on here once it is decorated and unpacked for all to see.

If by some chance that I do not get back on here to make a post (as I will have to wait for the new internet service to start) Please have a wonderful Merry Christmas and remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season!!!

Been that long?

No card,ornament or other to show. I cannot believe it has been this long since I have posted anything on my blog. I know I promised to show more of the christmas ornaments I have made, but just haven't taken the pictures and life has been really CRAZY right now!!!!! So please bear with me and I will get them posted.

I have not even visited my fellow blogging sisters to leave comments and certainly need to visit everyone and will do that this week I promise.

I did have a nice surprise from my sweet hubby..he purchased the Cricut Expression for me along with 6 cartridges and the studio. YIPPEE!!!! I have yet to play with it and figure out how it all works, but I know once I learn it will be smooth sailing.

I hope you all had a restful weekend and that you were able to get some projects done. I cannot believe we are two months away from Christmas!!!!! Please continue to visit as I promise to have more items to show.

Breast Cancer......Men?

I don't have a card today, but just wanted to make sure that all you gals are having your yearly exam of your ladies. I read more and more of this terrible disease taking lives of younger women and have personally lost a friend to this disease. Be proud to wear pink all month long and pass the word on to others, even if they are strangers. I have a button that says "Have your ladies been checked?" Of course you can imagine the looks I get from people especially the men, but it is food for thought and hopefully it will make a light bulb go off in their heads. This year alone 1500 men will get breast cancer and of that 1500, 400 of them will die because they didn't realize they can get breast cancer as they believe only women get it! Cancer knows no gender!!!! Be sure to have your hubby's checked as well! My sweet DH thought it was just a sore spot on his left breast, he mentioned it to the doctor when he went in for his annual exam. The doctor began feeling his right one and then pushed on his left breast which about sent DH through the roof from the intense pain; the doctor immediately had him sent for a bioptsy and when the results came back it turned out to be cancer and was at Stage 2. My husband had a radical left masectomy 3 years ago and remains cancer free..praising God for his goodness!!!! You still are asking yourself "men can get breast cancer"? Yes men can get breast cancer. It is only a percentage of 5% of men who do, but they have all the same glands as we do as the doctor explained to me, they just don't develop because of the testosterone. I just wanted to give you all a friendly reminder to remember to get them squished and examined and make your hubby do the same! He may laugh at you, but share this story and it will make him think twice about having an exam this I can guarantee.

Lots of love and prayers to each and everyone of you who have beaten this and to those who are going through it!

May The Joy and Peace...

I seem to be on roll in making these ornaments and probably due to the fact that I have exactly four weeks left until the "Relay For Life " Bazaar put on by the American Cancer Society and not to mention orders that have come in from various gals on SCS and blogs. I just love this one as well and I am so glad that I don't have to make a decision on which one to purchase. I love how this all came together and the coloring took a bit of thinking as I was trying to think how this village/town would of looked like back in the day when Christ was getting ready to be born. I felt that there were not many colors the adobe/brick walls could be so I went with more of the earth tones depicting it. Again if interested in purchasing an ornament see the post below on how to contact me. Thanks for looking. Supplies: Stamps: JustRite; Ink: Stazon; Ribbon: Offray Satin; Westrim Rhinestones.

Heavenly Angel

Hope you are having a great Sunday afternoon. My sis Beth is going to be over later and we will be BBQ'ing and finally catch up on all the latest. Had the four grand kids again yesterday but have to admit I am tired and am not as young as I used to be. LOL!!!!I have another ornament to show you. This one sat on my table for quite sometime as I had stamped the angel, colored her in and then just couldn't decide on how to finish her until late Thursday evening. Kinda a "light-bulb" moment if you get my drift. LOL! Found this fantastic folded ribbon at Michael's and thought it was just perfect to give the ornament the softness associated with an angel. Again, each ornament I make I seem to like it better than the last one. I will say trying to take pictures of these are a pain at times as there always seems to be a shadow casted on the part of the ornament as you can see on this one on the lower left side. I think it was part of my DH head when he tooks it, but there is no discoloration on it even though it shows there is. I have had several inquiries wanting to know if the ornaments are for sale. They are and if interested in purchasing one please contact me at heartdb@yahoo.com. Hope you have a wonderful restful Sunday afternoon. Thanks for looking! Supplies: Stamps: JustRite, Stampin Up; Ink: Stazon; Ribbon: Michaels; Sparkle: Stickles and Westrim mini rhinestones.

Let Heaven and Nature Sing

I thought I would begin showing the ornaments I have been working on. This one was a little more trickier, but I feel it really turned out rather well. I think this one will be a favorite of some especially ones who have bird feeders and the love of nature near and around their homes. I wish we could see a red cardinal here in California, but I believe they are birds of the East coast. I wasn't really sure how I was going to color or even embellish it, but knew it needed to be minor as to not take away from the image itself. After I colored it, I kept thinking it needed the snowy-icy effect hanging off the eaves of the bird house and remembered that the PTI set Border & Beams Accessories had that icicle edge. I stamped it in white and then added the stickles to give it the effect of ice hanging off the eaves. I used the small red rhinestones to accentuate the berries on the holly and just lightly glazed the leaves with stickles as well. The side of the ornament has red satin ribbon encircling it to give it a finished look. Supplies: Stamps-JustRite & PTI; Ink: Stazon, Chalk, Sharpies; Embellishments: Offray satin ribbon, Westrim rhinestones and Stickles. Thanks for taking the time to look.

It's Just Not My Day...

I know this isn't stamp related, but I could not help but share this fun photo of our Border Collie Olivia. When you have four little ones invade your space, you just have to deal with it. My DH is always with camera in hand when the little ones are over, because you never know what cute picture can be captured when they are all together. Such was the day yesterday when all the grand kids were here and playing in the toy box ranging from 1 to 7 years of age. From the time Mikayla was a baby (our first grandchild) we have had this red basket full of different toys, beads, bracelets and glasses for the kids to play with. They decided that it would be fun to dress Olivia up. Olivia being the trooper she is just laid there and let them fully accessorize her from head to paw. And remained in the "dressed-up" mode for about 2 hours which really surprised us. The grand kids got the biggest kick out of it and were laughing hysterically which in turn got us to be the same way. Grand kids you gotta love them!

Cleaning Out The Studio

I had planned on working on more ornaments, but as I was looking for a certain item in my closet, I stood there shaking my head (LOL!!) and thought okay its been long enough putting off the "Clean Mode" so today I decided today was the day and began going through the items in my studio and clear out unused items that I have not used in 6 months to a year. I figure if I haven't miss it, then I obviously don't need it. LOL!!! Take a look to see if there is anything of interest to you. Once I get this studio cleaned, I promise to post the ornaments that are completed.

ALL SOLD!!!!! YEA!!!!!!!

The Spirit of Joy

This is the second card I made for the Papertrey Swap. Again I had forgotten I had this set and remembered it was one of my favorites. Why is it we forget what we have in our stamps? Could it be we just have to have it, can't live without it and then it stay stashed in a drawer until we realize..oh yea, I have that set LOL!!! I used three different colors of blues to make the snowflakes stand out and then of course had to add Stickles to make them look sparkly and light. I remembered I had the Stardream Paper (which you really can't see in the picture) which is sparkly as well. I added the scalloped nesties as the double layering for matting behind the saying. Thanks for taking the time to look.

Supplies: Stamps-PTI Snowflake Serenade; Cardstock-Stardream Midnight Blue, Basic Gray Silver and SU Whisper White; Ink-Stazon Midnight Navy, Encore Ultimate Metallic Blue and Encore Silver. Stickles-Icicle and Rhinestones. Ribbon-Offray 1" Blue Sheer.

Dreams are...

Sorry for being MIA! Down with my back a few days and was nursing it to help my daughter unpack her house, which we didn't get very far because of it, but thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with her. It definitely gets cool up in the mountains and I am glad I remembered to pack my long pj's. LOL! By the way she loved the "Just Moved Cards" (see in lower post) I made for her which of course just warms my heart to no end! I have been working on getting cards done for swaps and wondering why I signed myself up for so many as I have so much to do, but felt I needed a break and need some cards to have on hand. This is one of the cards for the Papertrey Swap. Wasn't sure about it at first, but thought everything finally came together. I have been working on several more of the Ornaments. I am hoping that this weekend I can get them posted as there are another 7 done and about 4 more in the works. I am thinking these will be a major hit at the ACS Christmas Bazaar. If you would like to purchase one of these ornaments, please contact me and let me know which one(s) you would like or want made. I'd be more than happy to accommodate you. :) Thanks for looking!
Supplies: CS-SU Razzleberry & Soft Suede; Ink-Rich Razzleberry & Soft Suede; Stamps:PTI Spiral Bouquet; Stickles and Dew Drops.

Questions Regarding Ornaments

I have had so many compliments on the ceramic ornaments and also many questions. LOL! I will see if I can answer them according to who asked. And if you have a question that has not been addressed, don't hesitate to contact me.

So here it goes:

Shelly asked....How many do you make each season? Depends. I always make for all of my immediate family which is 13. Then there are those who have seen theirs and want one so I guess I could roughly say maybe a total of 40-50. But if it is for the ACS Relay For Life Bazaar I will make close to 200!

Paige asked...Any chance of getting a group shot of all the ornaments? Sure, as soon as I finish up on the others I am working on I'll be sure to take group picture.

Jenn asked...Where do you buy the plain ornaments? I ususally get them at Michael's and was very fortunate to be able to purchase what they had left for 10 cents a piece and I have a total of 120 in boxes right now and as soon as they are put out I will begin to buy more a little at a time.

Traci asked...Who is the snowman by? The snowman is by Inkadinkadoo. It came in a set with snowflakes, sentiments. I got it at Michaels last year, but I think if you went on their website they may have them there.

Jennifer asked...Tip on keeping the stamp from sliding. When stamping make sure you don't oversaturate the stamp. I have found through many trials of error when I first began making them that it is better to lightly stamp the image and if you decide you want it more prominent then wipe off and apply the ink a little heavier..it is just a matter of patience and error.

Sankari asked...Any chance of a Tutorial? Yes, but need to locate a video camera first LOL!!!! I don't own one personally but daughter does and maybe after she gets moved in her home she will loan it to me.

Melissa asked...Ink Type used? I have found that Stazon seems to work best, but you can try others but would have to seal it with a matte finish so it won't rub off.

Heidi asked...What do you use to color the images? It all depends on the image itself. I have used Sharpie Finepoints and regular Sharpies, Bic Markers, Colorbox Cat Eye Chalk Pads, and sometimes the Copics. I have found with Copics that they seem to streak so I rarely use them.

Where The Party Never Ends...

I have seen these accordion file holders using #10 envelopes and then cutting them in half and inserting them in between the folds of the accordion pleat on SCS and have wanted to try one, but just never got around to it. I have a co-worker whose house is completely done in Mickey Mouse. She says her whole family are crazy about Disney (like me and my DH) and she and her husband love Mickey. They just recently got back from vacation at Disneyland and I thought I would make this up and send it to her for to put memories in and as a thank you for helping me with the big bookkeeping mess we had at work. I think the hardest part was making the accordion part of the box. You know the saying "three times is a charm" well it was in my case! I either had one to wide or one to short and it sat lopsided. I eventually got it measuered correctly and assembled it the way it was suppose to look evenly LOL! All the paper is by Disney and of course the large Mickey sticker and sentiment is as well. I added stickles to the white dots and stars to give it a little bit of extra sparkle and then used versamark on the yellow to give the indication of confetti and fireworks happening. I thought for sure I was going to break my SU Word Window Punch when I was trying to go through three layers of chipboard to place the tab in, but it punched through okay. I am planning on altering a couple more items for her before this is sent and I hope she will like it. These would be a neat little gift to make for anyone or for any occasion or a cute birthday party favor. I know there is endless possibilities. Thanks for taking the time to look.

Just Moved...

I have been making these cards for my daughter in secret. They are getting ready to move into a home of their own as of today and thought this would help alleviate the stress of telling everyone their physical and P.O. Box address and phone number. It took me the longest time to figure out a design and then I vaguely remembered seeing one on someones blog or SCS (and if it is you please let me know so I can give credit where it is due). Mine isn't exactly like the one I saw so it isn't totally cased, but still would have liked finding it again. Their home is way up on top of a mountain surrounded by the national forest and I thought using the pine tree from the "Lovely As A Tree" and matching it up with Papertrey Ink's Board and Beams House and sentiment so it would be depicted correctly. The house is exactly these colors, and thankfully I happen to have them in my Prismacolor markers. I am hoping that she will be happy with these as it took a while to color them and make sure they were perfect. I just know she is going to ask me for more of these and I will gladly make them but maybe just not as fast. LOL! I used the MS Punch for the look of the pine needles. Ink is SU in Chocolate Brown, Black and Old Olive. I used Crystal Effects to give the windows the look of glass. Thanks for taking the time to look.

Let It Snow!

Whew!!!! What a last 5 days! Computer at work crashed, thought I had lost everything which would not of been good, but finally got a new computer today and now I am back logged in getting things caught up before the 31st! Anyway enough about my work LOL! I have another ornament to show you and this one I think is going to be another favorite of mine. It seems the more I am making them, I like it better than the last. Hopefully these will be the favorites at the annual ACS Bazaar this year. I have had this stamp since last year and used it to make ornaments for family. As I have stated before I discovered a way to make the stamp not slide on these porcelain ornaments and seems to be working. I used Liquid pearls to make it look like small snowflakes/ice was falling around the snowman and his friend. And then I thought about the outside rim and thought maybe I could sparkle it up a bit. I wasn't really sure the Scor-pal tape was going to adhere to the slick porcealin side, but with a little patience and the heat tool, it adhered really well to it. Next I took the Iridescent Flakes that you use in making handmade paper (hopefully I will be able to find more of this soon) and took the ornament and rolled it inside a container to get it to coat the sides well. I had to hand press some of the flakes so they wouldn't fall off as they are not real small. I took the heat gun again and heated around the ornament (about 14 inches away so not to melt them) to make sure it was sealed well so during transporting or hanging on a tree, it wouldn't come off. I used stickles for added gltiz and then bic markers for the coloring and red liquid pearls for the berries on his hat. I must say he turned out rather cute. Thanks for taking the time to look.

Star From The East

I wasn't sure how to decorate this particular ornament and then the PTI set was sitting in front of me and I thought why couldn't I use the cross as the focal point?
Although there is no sentiment added, I think it represents what was followed the night our Savior was born...The Star! It is so hard to photograph an item when there is glitter and bling added to it. Out of the 10 taken this was best by far and believe me it was taken in many aspects of lighting. I think this will be one I give to our Pastor and his wife at Christmas. Thanks for looking. Like the Snow Sprite, this was among the ones I got at a great price last year. The stamp is by PTI and the ink is Stazon. Stickles and rhinestones by Westrim. I think maybe one should be made in a midnight blue to capture the stillness and excitement of that very special night. Thank you for taking he time to look.